Synopsis

The Demon Neuro has a raging hunger for "enigmas." Being dissatisfied with his current regime in hell, he's come into the mortal realm in order to satiate his ever-growing appetite. The murder case of a young girl's father seems to be sufficiently enticing for the Demon's needs... But what else might happen between these two?

This is easily among my favourite manga, for the simple reason its so unique. The manga flips through Pseudo-Mystery genre, humour, almost-horror, Crime, action and pretty much everything else so much it should feel schizophrenic, but instead works perfectly. The most prominent genre is really Psychological. The capture of criminals is often less about discovering how they did the crime as much as it is their motivations for doing so.
Perhaps the best part of this manga is the characters however. From the main characters to even the very most minor, there is not one whom is completely undeveloped. Everyone feels very real and Human (or
Inhuman when intended), even the basic criminals given the same treatment which makes finding out every reasoning interesting - and some making you feel so sympathetic for the murderer you would prefer they go free. This manga is truly one for people who like varied interesting characters. From the Sadistic 'Evil-Good' Neuro, to the petrified Along-for-the-ride Yako, to the childish but entertaining and slightly scary 'Chaotic-Evil' murderer X.

The artwork is difficult to rate numerically - ranging from 10 to 6 at its worst. Matsui has a beautifully surreal expressionlist drawing style, which leads him to create perhaps one or two very complex weirdly-beautiful drawings a chapter. These are unique from most manga and are often used to represent an idea as its being explained, or simply to unsettle. Some were so good i often find myself looking back through, and i have in fact bought some manga myself even though theyre in japanese for the best bits i enjoyed them so much. However, hes admitted that drawing these take up much of his time and in the earlier chapters its obvious the rest of the art suffers for it and its one week chapter creation time (and it doesnt help most scans represent it double its normal size, screwing the resolution up). As it goes on the standard art improves to an acceptable state with even more of the beautiful surrealist works per chapter, presumably as he gains assistants or improves time management, so stick with it.

In conclusion, if your bored with the standard Shonen clones, want something truly unique and unconventional, or happen to be a fan of bizarre art stylings - Read this Manga. If your not any of those, still read it because it will make you all those things regardless, and youll be better for it.

After finishing the great anime adaptation, I found myself craving for more mysteries, more of the clever humor, and of course, more Neuro. I hesitated at first because of the artwork. In fact, I spent the first few chapters complaining about it. But before I knew it, I got completely sucked in and ended up reading most of this manga in a marathon.

-STORY- 10/10

The manga mostly consists of short cases. And although the criminal is usually made obvious to the reader, the process of deduction and explanation is still exciting. This is the kind of mystery series where the author focuses on the "How" and
"Why" parts of the case rather than the "Who". Each story is interesting in its own way, and each criminal has unique reasoning for breaking the law, usually having to do with a psychological condition of some sort. Later on, as the main plot progresses, the readers are exposed to stronger criminals that Neuro has to face, and eventually, a main group of antagonists.

One of my favorite aspects of Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro is the humor. The overall story is rather dark and psychologically disturbing, but the author manages to "lighten" the mood with some equally dark comic relief. It may sound contradicting, and perhaps it is. Because Matsui-sensei makes the reader laugh at things that are not funny at all. I am certainly not a fan of violence or cruelty, but I always find it somehow amusing when Neuro tortures his prey and destroys their psyche. Most likely it is because Neuro himself is a contradicting individual, which is where my next favorite aspect comes in.

-CHARACTERS- 10/10

This has got to be one of the best (if not -the- best) parts of this manga. Let's start with the title character. Neuro is most certainly one of the most unique characters I have ever encountered throughout the many years of being into anime and manga. I may have said this about many others, but I am definitely not exaggerating when I speak about Neuro. What makes him interesting is his ability to capture the reader's heart with his... negative qualities. He is selfish, sadistic, manipulative, hypocritical, and plain psychotic. He takes pleasure in inflicting mental and physical torture upon others, including his partner Yako, and will not miss a chance to belittle human beings. He might as well be the main villain himself. However, Matsui-sensei successfully makes this character lovable to the public. What is Neuro's charm? What makes such a seemingly repulsive individual so attractive? Is it his eccentric appearance, or his childish demeanor, or the overall mystery that surrounds his very existence? There may not be an answer. Neuro is a paradox, a hateful character that cannot be hated.

Our co-main character is Yako, a pretense detective and Neuro's favorite "toy". She may appear as an ordinary girl and quite a pushover, but she actually has a very strong personality and a lot of courage. She is not afraid to speak her mind when confronting the criminals, and is deeply concerned about their motives. Her main purpose is concealing Neuro's true identity, but she is also an important aid in solving the cases, because she is very knowledgeable about human psyche, unlike Neuro who only cares about solving the puzzle. She is very open with Neuro too, even though her life is in danger every time she talks back at him. As the story progresses, Yako also matures and starts living up to her title of a detective.

There are numerous other characters, and I will not go into detail about all of them. I don't think there is a single boring personality in this manga; both the positive and the negative characters are intriguing in their own way. I have noticed that Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro does not have the overused stereotypes that are often present in this kind of setting. There is no invincible hero who does not get hurt and can easily get out of any situation. The legit detectives are not as useless as they usually are in a story where an amateur is involved in an investigation. The group of antagonists are not your typical gang bent on taking over the world; in fact, there is no good versus evil scenario here and no two sides are clearly defined. There are no "flat" characters; all of them grow and change, for the better or worse, which makes the story very exciting and at times unpredictable.

My only concern is that absolutely nothing is known about Neuro himself. Everyone seems to have some kind of back story and motive, but Neuro just exists. He is from Hell and he eats mysteries, that's it. Whether or not the author planned it this way, for the protagonist to be the biggest "enigma" himself, is unknown. In fact, I am not sure whether there is really a need to learn more about him. Even though he is a mystery, his character seems to be complete, and it didn't even strike me until the end. Only after I finished reading the manga, I thought back and realized that I don't really know anything about him. Maybe Matsui-sensei plans to have some sort of revelation in the second series. Or perhaps it is just another paradox.

-ART- 8/10

As I mentioned earlier, I was a little repelled when I just started reading. The proportions don't seem to be realistic and there is some general inconsistency throughout the designs. The main focus goes to the foreground, while the characters on the background are drawn with a lot less detail, to the point that some of them don't have facial features at all. It appears that the author certainly focused on developing the story and the characters a lot more than on making it visually appealing.

Even though the actual panels are nothing extraordinary, the full-page chapter inserts are definitely worth looking at. This is where the artist shows his talent by drawing the characters with a lot of detail and in difficult perspectives. Among them are some very fascinating illustrations that add to the disturbing side of the manga; for example, an image of Yako sitting in someone's eye and looking up from under a contact lens. Also, looking closely at those inserts, we can see how they depict some of the character quirks; for example, an image of Neuro wearing a kimono and black boots inside a Japanese house, which is clearly unacceptable, and thus shows his indifference and disrespect toward the humans and their customs.

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Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro is in my Top 5 most favorite manga series, and Neuro is among my Top 5 all-time favorite characters. I highly recommend this to everyone -- it will surely keep you entertained. There is a "to be continued" notion after the cliffhanger ending, and I am definitely looking forward to a second manga series.

story;
A girl (Yako) whoes father was murdered comes across a deamon (yes, it is consequently spelled as deamon) aka Neuro that solves the 'riddle' of this unsolved case. Neuro feeds on riddles and he wants to eat riddles from the human world. He uses Yako to navigate through human society and makes Yako a famous detective. Her role within their detective agency is mainly to smile friendly and keep close contacts with the police.

The first 60 chapters are short stories. Of course there is a big villain (X), but he's in the background. The short stories are
all about a murder case where the murderer tried to hide he did it through a 'riddle'. There were several riddles that were way too far fetched, but overall it was nicely done.

After the first 60 chapters of only short stories there comes another big villain comes along: A computer virus that turns people into criminals. This keeps us occupied for another 30 chapters.
So after about 30 chapters containing a bigger plot we're back to short stories.
X gets a bigger role and appears more. Short stories, with a red thread concerning the cat and mouse game that develops between X and Neuro - we're heading towards chapter 120.
It turns out X is only the beginning of the trouble that awaits. There is a super villain responsible for X. This villain and his evil plans will be the grand plot of the story. So it is 80 chapters only the super villain and his minions against Neuro and the police squad.

The switches between little stories and the main story are, in my humble opinon, too big. When you read this manga in one go, somehow it doesn't feel good. The way how people from different stories fit to gether in the bigger picture manga is nicely done.

art;
On the first glance you'd say Matsui-sensei's art isn't worth mentioning. You couldn't be more wrong. When you look closer at the art you'll be pleasantly surprised. It is clear that Matsui-sensei likes art and he shows this in multiple ways. For instance trough a story concerning a artist. The sculpture Matsui-sensei has drawn for this story was awesome.

Matsui-sensei's drawings are clearly based on several artists. Neuro's deamonic form for instance, reminded me somehow of the creatures in the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch. Other deamonic things had aspects you could defenitly link to Dalí. Several pictures (with Neuro sitting on the ceiling for instance) were obviously inspired by the works of Escher. Matsui-sensei is also clearly into (Picasso's) surrealistic cubism.

character;
The characters evolve. You can see they really change throughout the story. Some don't change for the better. This way it is realistic. I also like it Matsui-sensei doesn't have too much trouble with letting characters die.
However the way several of the murderers or the supervillain are portrayed is far beyond realism.

Enjoyment:
It was a nice story to read. I liked it, but I can't say I loved it. The comic relief was nice. Neuro's sadistic traits were funny, and Yako's eating habbits were hilarious. In the translator notes I read much jokes were untranslatable because the jokes were in the kanji readings. Too bad, it would have made the story even better.

I don’t know what to make of this manga really. At first, I thought this would be like Ghost Sweeper Mikami where there would be a main character that would get pleasure in making the other character suffer. At times it’s fun and comical in an almost satanic way. I’m not sure if it’s the translation that I read or how the manga really is written so it’s hard to say but the story got very complicated after a while. Trust me when I say you will get confused, you will get lied to, and you will go ‘What the fuck?’ while reading this. You
have been warned. The start of this manga is basic with a demon ending up going to the human world and forcing a human to help him.

Lets talk about the main characters for a moment. Neuro is a demon who has come to the human world looking for riddles which is his main source of food. He acts like a rather playful child for most of the time though, even if his play is very satanic and torture style. He was born and lived in a land of suffering, the underworld where they did as they wanted and where the concept of death and horror mean nothing. Take that same character, put them in our world and let them do as they please. Ten times out of ten, the demon would not understand why it’s not ok to play with someone’s mind or show them horrific images. This is why I consider him more of a child playing with his food then an actual demon as the riddles he eats are made by humans. The reason he came looking for riddles was to find the ultimate food to quench his hunger. (Toriko eat your heart out… no really, this is a demon we are talking about. Toriko is a good example, maybe an overboard example, of just what that can be like in human terms.)

There is one other point that I would like to bring up with Neuro. Although he is childish and has a lack of knowledge of being human, he also has a rather strange understanding that almost seems physiological.There is a point in the story where he talks about how humans surprise him with their way of surpassing his expectations. It actually got me thinking a bit in how the psychology behind different things in the manga and outside it. Things that seemed to be over exaggerated in the manga did have a bit of place here in the world. For example, there was a singer who sung beautifully but only when she felt that she had no one who cared for her. Because of this, she choose to kill the people she loved in order to sing again. The fact that he is a outsider looking in actually seems to make me believe that he understands humans much more then he actually lets on or knows himself. When he gets into this psychology, to me he seems to feel more human then when he is normal.

Yako is… well she is not really as fleshed out as Neuro is. She just seems like an ordinary girl who can somehow withstand Neuro’s special attacks. I mean, what human can live with their head being twisted 360 degrees or having her jugular smashed in several times? It makes me wonder if she herself is also a monster, especially with how she eats. She says in the beginning that she doesn’t like riddles but she does grow to seem to understand them at least just by the second book, starting to show a interest in whatever Neuro is about to do. She has a very strange way of looking up to Neuro, almost to the point that I would say she likes him a bit… but only a little bit. It’s odd to see some shoujo aspects to a manga made for Shonen. What that means is aspects for girl comics in men’s comics.

The artwork is very close to the occult but with Shonen aspects to it. I can tell that it was made mostly for men but then we have a character that was definitely made for the females who read it as the demon Neuro is really… cute in his own way? I know I said this about a monster that does show his original form that isn’t so cute but he has this sort of playful way he acts and especially around Yako. It may not be romantic in anyway, it actually closely resembles a cat playing with a small mouse, but in a way it has this sort of childlike ‘I’m not poking you’ feel. He never actually harms her (seriously anyway… at times it may seem that he does though but she always seems fine after) and so I can’t say that he ever feels any malice to her. He just sees her as his ticket to another meal and if they had feelings like friendship, I’m sort of sure he would feel them. Putting that all aside, the artwork gets really horror filled with things that seem to come out of a surreal painting with fish-eyed glass style and strange details in the riddle or hands similar to the weapon they pick. We even have times where you can see a rather simple character turn very complex as they get close to figuring out the ‘riddle.’

This manga is a rather strange one and again, its one that can get really complicated. I still don’t fully understand half of what was going on near the end. It’s still a good manga but you might want to read it carefully to understand it more. And can someone please explain some of the ending to me because it just confuses me.